The bell rings, signaling the start of another day. Behind the scenes of lesson planning and student guidance, teachers juggle numerous responsibilities. The stress runs deep, woven into the very fabric of their daily routines. They face an array of pressures: grading, parent-teacher meetings, and the emotional support they provide to students along with these typical stressors, the national worries over school safety adds to the weight they carry.
“The expectations of the schools, the community, and the parents. They all want really good fine arts programs,” choir director Jason Stevens said. “Trying to uphold the standards, Millard South had a really great music program before I got here. Those are all stressors as well,” he said.
Teachers face stress like everyone else. Their stress is spread throughout their day and each class.
“The biggest thing is time, sometimes we just don’t have the time to be the best we can with all the lesson planning, grading and making connections. It’s difficult to balance all of that and do it well,” social studies teacher Meryl Zadina said.
Another way teachers face the stress of the job is behavior and the students’ needs.
“In the classroom, with kids who have behavioral issues. That can be really aggravating when you’re trying to teach a student who is disruptive,” Zadina said. “Communication, sometimes we might miss things the kids need, or overlook or even just forget things. It’s really helpful when a student reminds me or sends me emails so I know what they need specifically,” said Zadina.
Students’ behavior is a stressor for our educators. Yet there are many ways that grading, being support systems for students and stress of day to day life have an impact of stress for our teachers.
“If I’m feeling stressed, it is difficult to get up and fake a smile but you have to,” Zadina said, “It’s hard. The job can be a roller coaster. There are great days that can be awesome and sometimes I have days where I go home feeling defeated,” she said.
Educators face stress from many different places in and out of the classroom. According to the Pew Research Center, About 1 in 4 U.S. teachers say their school went into a gun-related lockdown in the last school year. The fear of active shooters is always here, and it’s a real fear that teachers face everyday.
“Knowing that it has happened here before, I think that impacts us differently and we realize that it’s real. It happens, it happened here. There’s people in this building who were here then that are still here now,” Zadina said.
Millard Public Schools has protocol in case of these scenarios, yet the teachers are the ones really making the call.
“It’s not something that is addressed often but I know there’s a plan, basically we follow the protocol of what has been taught to us,” Zadina said. “I don’t think you can really prepare for something really that extreme. The ultimate goal is to make sure the kids are safe, whether that means lockdown and hiding or running out of the building or whatever the situation calls for,” Zadina said.
